Preserving a Critical National Asset America’s Disadvantaged Students and the Crisis in Faith-based Urban Schools The White House Domestic Policy Council The nonpublic school situation: enrollments are falling and costs are climbing…If decline continues, pluralism in education will cease, parental options will virtually terminate, and public schools will have to absorb millions of American students. The greatest impact will be on…large urban centers, with especially grievous consequences for poor and lower middle-class families in racially changing neighborhoods where the nearby nonpublic school is an indispensable stabilizing factor. —President’s Panel on Nonpublic Education April 14, 1972 America’s inner-city faith-based schools are facing a crisis. And I use the word “crisis” for this reason: Between 2000 and 2006, nearly 1,200 faith-based schools closed in America’s inner cities. It’s affected nearly 400,000 students…We have an interest in the health of these centers of excellence; it’s in the country’s interest to get beyond the debate of public/ private, to recognize this is a critical national asset. —President George W. Bush April 24, 2008 Preserving a Critical National Asset America’s Disadvantaged Students and the Crisis in Faith-based Urban Schools The White House Domestic Policy Council September 2008 U.S. Department of Education Margaret Spellings Secretary September 2008 This report is in the public domain. Authorization to reproduce it in whole or in part is granted. While permission to reprint this publication is not necessary, the citation should be: U.S. Department of Education, Preserving a Critical National Asset: America’s Disadvantaged Students and the Crisis in Faith-based Urban Schools, Washington, D.C., 2008. This report is also on the Department’s Web site at www.ed.gov/admins/comm/choice/faithbased/. On request, this publication is available in alternate formats, such as Braille, large print or computer diskette. For more information, please contact the Department’s Alternate Format Center at 202-260-0852 or 202-260-0818. Contents LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS v INTRODUCTION 1 PART I: THE CHALLENGE 3 FAITH-BASED SCHOOLS IN AMERICA 5 ACADEMIC BENEFITS OF FAITH-BASED SCHOOLS 6 THE LOSS OF URBAN FAITH-BASED SCHOOLS 8 THE STRUGGLE OF URBAN EDUCATION 13 ATTEMPTS AT REFORM 15 CAUSES OF THE CRISIS 17 PART II: SOLUTIONS 23 JOINT RESPONSIBILITY 25 NETWORKS 26 PHILANTHROPY 28 Improving and Publicizing School Quality 29 Standardized Assessments: 29 Alternative Measures: 29 Improvement Strategies: 30 Distributing Information: 30 Engaging Faith-based Communities 31 Focusing Geographically 31 Focusing on Programs 32 HIGHER EDUCATION 32 Preparing Teachers and Principals 33 Supporting Schools 33 NEW SUPPORT SYSTEMS 34 Building Human Capital 34 Creating New Schools and Replicating Successful Schools 35 PUBLIC POLICY 36 Scholarships 36 Student-centered Funding 38 Tax Credits 39 Faith-based Charter Schools 40 Additional Support 41 NOTES 43 iii APPENDIX 59 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 61 EDITED AND CORRECTED TRANSCRIPTS 63 Opening Presentation 63 KARL ZINSMEISTER 63 Panel I: Faith-based Schools and the Common Good 73 KARL ZINSMEISTER 73 CHARLES GLENN 74 JOSEPH VITERITTI 76 WILLIAM JEYNES 78 REVEREND FLOYD FLAKE 82 QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION 84 Speech by President George W. Bush 87 AYSIA MAYO-GRAY 87 THE PRESIDENT 87 Panel II: Practical Realities on the Ground 94 JAY HEIN 94 PHYLICIA LYONS 95 REVEREND JOSEPH O’KEEFE 97 VERNARD GANT 100 VIRGINIA WALDEN-FORD 102 CONCLUSION 104 Lunch Plenary: Education Options and America’s Cities 105 SECRETARY MARGARET SPELLINGS 105 ACTING SECRETARY ROY BERNARDI 105 HONORABLE STEVE GOLDSMITH 107 HONORABLE NANCY GRASMICK 108 QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION 109 Panel III: Community Solutions 116 SCOTT HAMILTON 116 MARY MCDONALD 117 TOM TILLAPAUGH 121 B.J CASSIN 124 REVEREND TIMOTHY SCULLY 127 RABBI DAVID ZWIEBEL 130 QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION 132 Panel IV: Public Policy Options 134 DEPUTY SECRETARY RAY SIMON 134 ANTHONY PICARELLO 136 HONORABLE ANTHONY WILLIAMS 139 RONALD BOWES 141 LAWRENCE WEINBERG 144 APPENDIX NOTES 147 MODERATOR AND SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES 151 iv Illustrations Figures 1. K–12 Schools by Type of School: 2005–06 5 2. Number of U.S. Catholic Schools: 1960–2008 8 3. A Warning Unheeded: The 1972 Report of the President’s Panel on Nonpublic Education 9 4. Loss of Catholic Schools: 1998–2008 10 5. Number of Faith-based Urban Schools: 1990, 2000, and 2006 12 6. Number of Faith-based Non-urban Schools: 2000 and 2006 12 7. Number of Secular Private Schools: 2000 and 2006 13 8. Percentage of Students At or Above Proficient on the NAEP 8th-Grade Reading Assessment, by Selected Cities: 2007 13 9. Public High School Graduation Rates, by Selected Cities: 2003–04 14 10. Median Highest Annual Tuition in Central City Private Schools, by Type: 2003–04 19 11. Percentage of Religious and Lay Staff at Catholic Schools: 1920 and 2007 20 Tables 1. Cumulative Change in Numbers of Faith-based Urban Schools and Their Students: 2000–06 11 v Introduction On April 24, 2008, President George W. Bush convened in Washington, D.C., a broad array of education and community stakeholders to address a deeply troubling but vastly under-reported phenomenon limiting the education options available to low-income urban families: the rapid disappearance of faith-based schools in America’s cities. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, between the 1999–2000 and 2005–06 school years, the K–12 faith-based education sector lost nearly 1,200 schools and nearly 425,000 students. This is a cause for national concern for a number of important reasons. First, for generations, these schools have played an invaluable role in America’s cities. They are part of our Nation’s proud story of religious freedom and tolerance, community development, immigration and assimilation, academic achievement, upward mobility, and more. To lose these schools is to lose a positive, central character in the narrative of urban America. More importantly, the disappearance of these schools is having a tragic impact on many of our most disadvantaged families. For many urban parents, the moral grounding, community ethic, safe and structured environment, and academic rigor of faith-based schools are invaluable to their children. These qualities are especially prized because of the unfortunate alternatives many of these children and families face. The struggles of urban public schools are well known and long-standing. The underserved children of America’s cities deserve access to high-performing educational options. The disappearance of urban faith-based schools— with their strong record of serving the disadvantaged—frustrates the crucial national effort to make educational excellence available to every child. Experience indicates that the contributions of these schools extend far beyond the classroom. A strong education institution can stabilize a community. It can attract new families and jobs. It can provide safety and hope in areas where both are in short supply. Regrettably, the inverse is also true. In addition to hurting students, the loss of a strong school in an underserved community can destabilize fragile social networks, depress job creation and economic development, and exacerbate the collective sense of despair resulting from scarce community resources and opportunities. As serious and worrisome as this problem is, there is no villain in the story. No one purposely set about to cause an education crisis. The root causes are several and diffuse—including barriers to government aid, demographic shifts, and staffing changes—and they only begin to corrode urban faith-based schools when combined. However, these factors have, in the end, chipped away at a pillar of American K–12 education. To leave this grave and mounting challenge unaddressed would be irresponsible. The futures of too many young lives and distressed communities are at stake. Fortunately, this problem is solvable. America’s institutions—from the Federal, State, and local governments to businesses and non-profits to universities and community-based organizations—have it in their power to turn the tide. This Administration has taken the lead, raising the public awareness of this crisis through the White House Summit on Inner-City Children and Faith-Based Schools and developing and supporting promising initiatives, including Promise Scholarships, Opportunity Scholarships, Pell Grants for Kids, and the Washington, D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. However, if we are to succeed in protecting these valuable education options, more must be done. A sustained collaborative effort by educators, elected officials, philanthropists, neighborhood leaders, and many others will be required. America’s faith-based urban schools—so prized by so many families—are well worth this effort. Their preservation will greatly benefit countless disadvantaged students, numerous underserved communities, and as a result, our Nation at large. PART I: The Challenge Faith-based Schools in America The United States has a long, proud tradition of faith-based K–12 education. Long before the Declaration of Independence proclaimed America’s emergence and the Constitution guaranteed all citizens religious freedom, faith-based schools were proliferating on these shores. In 1606, the Franciscan Order founded the first Catholic school in St. Augustine, Florida.1 In 1727, the Sisters of Saint Ursula founded the Ursuline Academy for girls in New Orleans, which is still operating today and is the oldest Catholic school in